Discovering Hidden Feelings
by Lanmwolf
Summary: Calleigh has always tried to avoid entering a romantic relationship with Eric, but what will happen when she starts to realize that romance may not be the worst thing that can happen? EC, Hip Huggers.
1. Jealousy Strikes

**_A/N: Hey everyone, I'm a big fan of E/C and felt like doing a fic for them. Anyway I'm still relatively new at writing fics, so please tell me what you think (I'm my own worst critic, so I really won't take offense to anything you tell me). Hope you all enjoy and please please please review!_**

_**By the way, for those of you who just started reading, this fic takes place after the season 6 episode Deep freeze.**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing. CSI: Miami and all of it's characters belong to CBS.**_

**Chapter 1**

Calleigh sighed as the doors to the elevator shut behind her. It had been a long day at the forensics lab, which had finally ended when she arrested a 45 year old man for killing his wife to collect $50,000 dollars in insurance money. Despite the fact that she had seen people kill over all kinds of things, both significant and trivial, it never ceased to amaze her that someone could kill another person they claimed to have loved at some point in their life.

It had taken two days for Horatio and her to wrap things up in the case and now she was looking forward to having the weekend off. Luckily Jake also had the weekend off and she felt a growing excitement at the idea of getting to spend some time with him. She hadn't really seen him over the past couple of days due to the new rules concerning the "fraternization of coworkers."

She still believed that she and Jake should be able to work together because they made a good team, but she admitted, with some degree of resignation, that part of her job description was to follow the orders of her superiors. And in this particular case that meant that she couldn't work with Jake, but still she found some comfort in the fact that no one had made her choose between her job and Jake because she knew that her choice would have led to the downfall of yet another relationship.

Now she just had to go file the last of the paperwork and then she would be done for the day. As she walked out of the elevator and began heading towards one of the labs she found herself ruminating on the events that had ultimately led to her and Jake almost breaking up.

She had to admit that she was still angry at Eric for telling Stetler about their relationship. She knew that he hadn't meant to hurt anyone or cause any problems, but somehow that didn't seem to lessen her anger. As she flashed back to her confrontation with him, she felt even more residual anger bubble to the surface.

* * *

_Calleigh got into the Hummer and waited for Eric to get in before taking off to the crime scene, despite the fact that she felt like leaving him and letting him try to find a way to get there by himself._

_God, she was so angry with him. She didn't know what to think and couldn't even begin to comprehend why he would have told Stetler that she was with Jake. Admittedly she did realize that Eric wasn't the type of person who would have shared the relationship out of some childish desire to get back at her just because he was jealous, but she still couldn't understand what would have possessed him to talk about it with Stetler of all people._

_She looked over and saw that Eric seemed to have shrunk back into the seat a little and that he had realized that talking to her about it before she brought it up would be a bad idea. She decided to try to cool down before talking to him, but as they turned a curve on the highway, they saw that cars were stopped as far as the eye could see._

_A couple minutes after pulling up behind a red Toyota Camry, Calleigh, who didn't want to wait for a news report on the radio, turned on the police scanner and asked for information about how long they would be stuck._

"_CSI Duquesne to Miami Central 12."_

"_Go ahead, CSI Duquesne."_

"_We were on route to a crime scene, traveling north on Interstate 95 and we are now at a complete standstill. Can you provide us with any information about how long of a wait we can expect?"_

"_A gasoline tanker overturned about a mile from your current location. They just sent out a call for a clean up crew, so it should be about another 2 hours."_

"_Alright, thank you dispatch."_

_Calleigh turned down the volume on the scanner and muttered "crap" under her breath. Of all the days for an accident to occur in an area where there was no way for them to turn around or get off on an exit, it had to be this day._

_She quickly looked around to find any possible way of getting off the road, but her hopes were shattered when she realized that they were in one of the middle lanes and even if she could somehow get to one of the side lanes there was a concrete median that would prevent them from turning back and heading the other way on the interstate. And on top of all that the next nearest exit was 2 miles up ahead, past the overturned tanker._

_Eric didn't look very happy about their situation either and after a few more minutes of silence he couldn't remain quiet any longer._

"_Are we really going to do this for two more hours Calleigh?"_

"_Do what?"_

"_Sit here in silence and pretend like nothing's wrong or that there's nothing that we need to talk about."_

"_I don't know Eric. I mean do you know how angry I am with you right now? You betrayed my trust, my confidence and for what? Because you're jealous?"_

_Eric started to get a little angry; she should know that he would never intentionally betray her trust._

"_Look it wasn't out of jealousy. I tried to tell you before, but you wouldn't listen. Natalia dislocated her shoulder and I popped it back in for her. She was in a lot of pain and I held her for a second to make sure that she was steady. Then Stetler walked in and I guess he made the wrong assumption that Natalia and I were sleeping together again. I…"_

_Eric tried to continue, but Calleigh was too angry to let him continue, "So, what, you decided to use me as a scapegoat because you've had improper relationships in the lab and didn't want any questions directed at you?"_

"_No! Damn it, Calleigh. There was nothing romantic going on between Natalia and I, so I assumed that Stetler must be talking about you two because you're the only two people that I know of that work together that are seeing each other romantically."_

"_You really put me in a bad place Eric."_

_After a couple of minutes of silence she continued, " I think it's time that you realize that you and I aren't together and aren't going to be together. You need stop focusing on Jake and me."_

_Eric was visibly angered further by her statement and got out of the car. Calleigh initially thought he was just getting some air, but when she saw him walking the other direction on the highway she got out of the car to ask him what he was doing._

"_Just doing what you asked. I'm trying not to focus on you and I figured that will be easier if I don't have to sit in the car with you for the next two hours. I'm just going to walk back to the nearest exit and I'll have H come pick me up. I guess I'll see you at the crime scene, but I don't really know."_

_Calleigh was still reeling from the fight and didn't protest. As she climbed back into the car, she let herself sink into the seat and think about what just happened.

* * *

_

She knew that she had been looking to pick a fight with Eric that day, in part because Jake had told her that they needed to let things cool down, and that she had been irrational, but she couldn't let go of her anger. She couldn't believe that he had been so childish.

Though she tried to convince herself that his behavior that day was what was still bothering her, she had to acknowledge the real reason she was still angry though was because Eric had been avoiding her all week since the fight. As much as she didn't like fighting with him, she hated the fact that they hadn't been talking even more.

"Oh, well. I guess I'll deal with it later," she muttered under her breath.

As she sat down at one of the desks to review the paper work one last time, she tried to boost her mood by reminding herself that she and Jake were back together. A day after Jake had broke things off he came to her and told her he realized that he had been an idiot and asked her to forgive him. She had gladly obliged and now things seemed to be smooth sailing.

With that thought she quickly realized she was letting her thoughts distract her from doing her work and after a few minutes she got through filling out all the papers. She realized though that there was one minor problem, which was that Eric had helped with some of the lab work and she now had to have him sign off on one of the reports.

"I guess this is as good a time as any to deal with the awkwardness between us" she thought and headed off to try to find him after being unable to reach him on his cell.

She looked in a couple of labs and as she was coming out of one door she ran into Frank.

"Hey Frank. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just following through on a case. You looked like you were looking for something, anything I can do to help?"

"Not really. I'm looking for Eric to sign off on some stuff, but if you see him please tell him I'm looking for him."

"Will do Calleigh. Take care."

As Frank walked off she realized that she hadn't searched the morgue and after having no luck there, she decided to just put off trying to get his signature until Monday. But as she was walking back to the lab to file the paper, she heard his laugh come from near the information desk.

As she turned the corner she saw him with a striking brunette, which for some reason stopped her from getting any closer. The girl was 5' 9" and looked like a size two, exactly the type of girl most guys drool over, which for some reason made her uncomfortable.

She found herself trying to hear what they were saying and felt a twinge when the girl reached out and touched Eric on the arm, obviously flirting. She then said something that elicited a smile from him and then kissed him lightly on the mouth.

Eric looked a little surprised by the kiss, but Calleigh couldn't bear to watch any more. She suddenly felt very confused and almost sick to her stomach.

"I can't be jealous" she thought "I'm with Jake and we're happy. Why would I be jealous?"

She hurriedly put away the paper and tried to get out of labs, while trying to ignore what she was feeling and thinking. She was almost out of the labs, when as fate would have it she heard Eric calling her name from behind her.

"Hey Calleigh, wait up. Frank told me you were looking for me."

She had forgotten about Frank and suddenly wished she could go back in time and change it so that she hadn't said anything.

"Uh yeah, I was looking for you to sign off on some stuff, but I already put it away so we can just do it Monday."

Eric noticed that she seemed a little stilted and said, "That's fine. Look Calleigh, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for my part in our fight and how I've been acting this week. We're good friends and I should have realized that our friendship is more important than my pride. We good?"

"Yeah."

When he didn't get any further response from her he said, "You okay Calleigh? You look a little frazzled."

"Sorry, just been a long day. But you're right, our friendship should come first and I'm sorry for the way I reacted too."

After a pause she said, "I gotta go deal with some things, but see you Monday?"

"Yeah, yeah. Have a good weekend."

As they took off in different directions they both looked back at each other and as they made contact Calleigh couldn't help but wonder what was going on with her and where it would lead.


	2. The New Competition

_**A/N: Wow! Thanks for the reviews and/or adding me to your favorite stories/story alerts, it was more than I expected to get. And now onto one thing I want to mention about this chapter: some of the stuff might not seem to be relevant to the story, but it all will come into play in future chapters. Anyway I'll stop talking now so that you all can get to read the story. Enjoy!**_

As Calleigh walked out the front doors, she felt like her head was still spinning. She recognized the fact that she was jealous, but she was still a little confused as to why. After all, she knew that she had once had romantic feelings for Eric, before she began dating Jake, but she thought that they had diminished over time.

She guessed that she wasn't really surprised that she was having these feelings, but more so by how strong they were and how fast they had come on. Had she possibly been suppressing them so that she wouldn't feel guilty about having feelings for two guys at the same time? She wasn't sure, but she knew that she would have to figure it out.

Just as she started to pull herself out of her thoughts and reign in her emotions, she felt a hand on shoulder turning her around. She felt a brief surge of excitement that it might be Eric and started to smile as she turned around, but felt a stab of disappointment when she saw that it was just Jake.

Although she was slightly pleased that Jake hadn't forgotten their plans to get together, she still found herself struggling to keep her smile as bright as it had been before she knew it was him.

After a brief kiss, Jake said, "Hey beautiful. How's my girl doing?"

Calleigh found it difficult to maintain the pretense that nothing was wrong with her. After all, she really didn't want Jake to even entertain the possibility that he might have some competition. She knew that that would not turn out well.

"Oh you know, the usual. Catching bad guys and saving the day."

"So you caught the guy?"

Seeing that Calleigh was a little confused about how he knew about her case, he continued, "Hey just because I can't work with you doesn't mean that I can't be thinking about you."

"Or ask about you when I can't see you." he added a little sheepishly.

Calleigh smiled, feeling a little of the tension she had been feeling fade away. "Well isn't that sweet. And to answer your earlier question, yes we did catch the guy."

"No doubt thanks to you."

"Of course. Nobody in the lab could do anything without me you know" she added playfully.

After another minute of talking Calleigh realized that she was feeling much better about everything. She had a great guy who really cared about her and no feelings that she had for Eric would change that, or at least she told herself.

"So you ready to hit the town for a night out?" Jake asked.

Just as Calleigh got ready to reply Jake's pager started to buzz and beep. He looked very unhappy about it, but he pulled it off his belt and looked at it anyway.

"Sorry babe, this will only take a minute," he told her as he picked up his cell phone and called someone.

"What's going on man?"

After a brief pause he disparagingly replied, "Okay, I'll be up in a minute."

Calleigh expected what would come out his mouth next.

"One of the other detectives screwed something up and I have to go take care of the mess, but I'll be back soon. You'll be okay waiting here, right?"

She started to nod her head, but he had already taken off up the stairs before even getting her response.

She had to admit that she was slightly miffed that he had even bothered to call the number on his pager back. She had waited to see him all day and then he just took off at the first sign of distress at work.

It took a minute or two to calm herself down, but she finally reasoned that she probably would have done the same thing. Wouldn't she have? Still not sure what she would have done she decided to sit on a bench until Jake got back and to try to avoid thinking about Jake and Eric.

Not thinking about Eric was more difficult than she thought it would be. Her mind kept wandering back to how she felt when she had seen that girl kiss him.

She knew that she would have to confront her feelings for him and find a way to get rid them or get past them somehow, but right now she knew she didn't have an answer on how to do that.

Finally resolving not to think about him she let her mind wander to the case that she had just finished working. The man, Charles Richardson, had stolen a gun from his best friend's step-brother during a party and five months later he had shot his wife with it. He had covered his tracks well, but they had been able to catch him due to a lucky break in the case.

They hadn't been able to find the gun itself, but Alexx had been able to recover one of the bullets during an autopsy and when Calleigh checked to see if a matching gun could be found, she got one hit.

The gun belonged to Michael Hyatt, who, when called in for questioning, told them that his gun had been stolen three to six months ago months ago and that he had filed a police report as soon as he realized it was missing.

After verifying his story, they thought that there was no hope of solving the case. They strongly suspected that the woman's husband, Charles Richardson, had been the one to murder her, but they had no evidence linking him to the gun.

Their lucky break came when the best friend of Mr. Richardson, James Cary, came in to ask if he could do anything else to help solve the murder. He wasn't much help when questioned again, but his cell phone rang while they were talking. It happened to be Michael Hyatt calling to say that he had just heard that James had just gotten engaged and wanting to offer his congratulations.

Calleigh quickly made the link. It turned out that James's mother and Michael's father had married when they were four, but had split up when they were both eight because of infidelity. The two boys had never really developed a friendship, but their parents remained friends after the divorce, and so they saw each other at birthdays, benefits, and random functions. Neither had mentioned the other because they only saw each other a couple times a year.

Now knowing that there was a common link between Michael and the suspect, she questioned the step brothers and discovered that James had brought Charles Richardon, his best friend, to Michael's birthday party several months before.

Deducing that that was probably the time that the gun was stolen, Calleigh confronted Mr. Richardson, who hastily confessed. He said that he knew that the step-brothers hadn't been close and that it would be unlikely for them to discuss knowing each other when questioned by detectives. He had stolen the gun, thinking it would never be linked back to him.

Calleigh had to admit that it had been a luck that had broken the case, but she was glad that they had caught the guy. As she started to think about how the case would be presented at trial her thoughts were interrupted as she saw the gorgeous brunette who had kissed Eric walking towards her.

She felt the jealousy begin to rise again and wished she could be anywhere but here now. The girl probably had a date with Eric and was coming back to meet up with him, something Calleigh really didn't want to consider.

She tried to pretend like she didn't notice the woman, but that didn't work for long because soon she was right in front of her and began to talk.

"Excuse me, Officer ……."

After briefly considering not responding to the girl Calleigh provided her name.

"Duquesne."

"Do you happen to know where I can find C.S.I. Delko? I came by here earlier to see him and when I got back to my car one of the tires was blown out and now I can't reach him on his cell phone."

Calleigh had to try to restrain herself from wishing that she would have thought of slashing one of the tires. She was surprised when she started to think of other ways to make this girl's life more unpleasant. She wasn't normally like this and to tell the truth it scared her a little bit.

She started to tune out what the girl was saying as she considered why the girl had come to see Eric. Were they dating? If so, did they meet while Eric was working a case? Or did they meet somewhere else, like a bar or a club?

Calleigh snapped back to reality as she heard the annoyance in the woman's voice.

"Can you help me find C.S.I. Delko or not?"

Calleigh thought about helping her find Eric or just flat out ignoring her, but decided to take the opportunity and try to find more out about who this girl was.

"You know, I think Delko left for the day. But I've changed a tire or two, so why don't I help you out?"

The girl looked surprised and a little relieved as Calleigh got up and started walking towards the parking garage, managing to make her feel slightly guilty about her less than honorable intentions.

"Thank you, Officer Duquesne."

"Actually it's C.S.I. Duquesne, but you can call me Calleigh."

"Oh, feel like such an idiot. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Rachael Davenport."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Rachael." Calleigh said trying to project a false sense of friendliness.

"Look, I'm sorry for getting so upset with you over their. It's just that it's been a long day and I was really looking forward to getting home and taking it easy, and then the tire was out when I got back to my car. Then to make matters worse, I called AAA they said that they wouldn't be able to get here until 2 hours from now."

Calleigh wasn't really sure what to say, but after a brief lull in the conversation she decided to start trying to find out about how Rachael and Eric knew each other.

"So were you here to see Eric about a case or ………"

"Kind of. My dad's house was broken into a couple of days and he called me to come over and try to figure out what's missing. He's had some trouble remembering things since my mom died a couple of month's ago and Eric was assigned to the case and needed to know if we could figure out what was stolen. He was just so nice and understanding, and I came by yesterday just as he was getting off of work to ask him how the case was going. He told me he really wanted to get out of the lab and asked me out to lunch to discuss the case."

"Considering that he barely wanted to talk about the case, I think he was just to shy to ask me out officially on a date." Rachael added with a laugh.

Calleigh had been curious how Eric and Rachael had met, but, now hearing how it had actually happened, she felt like someone had hit her across the head. What made it even worse was that Rachael seemed to be a genuinely nice person, someone she could see Eric falling for.

She then made the mistake of asking how the date went and regretted it as Rachael began describing the date.

"It was really nice. We went to this nice little restaurant called Carlton's and we just really hit it off."

Rachael continued to talk about the date for a few more minutes and each passing second Calleigh felt more and more like her head was going to explode. Just when she was sure that it was, she found relief when she started to change the tire and was able to concentrate on that instead of what Rachael was saying.

After she was done changing the tire she stood up and wiped her hands on rag in the trunk of the car.

"There we go. All done."

"Again, thank you so much Calleigh. You were a real life saver."

"Ah, no. Just conveniently available" Calleigh managed to force out with a fake smile.

Rachael seemed to want to ask her something, but seemed uncomfortable doing so. Finally she started to speak.

"I was going to ask you. You and Eric aren't seeing each other, are you? I mean I don't want to get in the middle of anything if you are."

Calleigh was completely taken off guard. Had her feelings really been that obvious?

Trying to recover she replied, "No. What would have ever given you that idea?"

"I don't know. I guess you just seemed to be really tense when I started to talk about our date together and I just got the feeling that you were a little bit jealous."

Calleigh felt like everything was spinning again and decided that the best way to go was to flat out deny it, but she heard her voice crack with the telltale signs of someone who was lying in her reply. "Me jealous of Eric with another girl? That's the funniest thing I've ever heard."

Just then her phone started to buzz and she looked down at the screen to see that Jake was calling. He was probably done with whatever he had been doing and didn't know where she went.

"See that's my boyfriend, Jake, right now. No, Eric and I are just friends. I promise"

She knew that she was doing a rather poor job of trying to convince Rachael, so she decided to leave before she made things worse.

She tried to sound genuine as she said, "Well anyway it was nice to meet you. Maybe I'll see you around."

"Yeah, I hope so. Thanks again for all your help."

Calleigh felt like she couldn't get out of the garage fast enough. She knew that Rachael had been so eager to believe that she wouldn't have to vie for Eric's attention that she had probably believed everything that Calleigh had said, especially since she had looked so relieved when Calleigh denied her interest in Eric. Nonetheless she was still angry with herself for being so obvious about how she felt.

As she walked out of the garage and saw Jake on the stairs she had to wonder how she really did feel. Rachael seemed like a nice girl, but would Eric really want a girl who couldn't even change a tire by herself?

The answer to that seemed pretty self evident. It appeared that he was very interested in Rachael. And that idea bothered Calleigh more than she would have ever liked to admit.

_**A/N: How did you guys like this chapter? Are you worried about Eric falling for Rachael? Do you think Calleigh will tell Eric how she feels soon out of fear of losing her chance with him? Please review :)**_

_**Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed it and if you have any ideas about where you'd like to see the story go just let me know (I have a couple ideas, but if someone suggests something I like, I'll try to include it).**_

_**And on a final note, I might not be able to update for awhile pending completion of some of my homework, but I promise I will write the next chapter as soon as possible. Also I'm looking for a beta for this story, so if you're interested please PM me. Thanks.**_


	3. Eric's Thoughts

**A/N: I am so sorry that I haven't updated in like over a year. I seem to have been a magnet for bad luck since I last updated (computer failures, car crashes, medical problems, etc-you get the general idea) and haven't had time to write. Anyway I'm back and haven't abandoned the story. Hope you all enjoy this installment and I promise my next update won't take nearly as long as this one did.**

**Chapter 3**

Eric walked briskly through the halls of the crime lab as he headed to the trace lab. It was 5:30 already and he wanted to get going for the night, seeing as how he had a date tonight with Rachael Davenport at 7:00. He wanted to get home in time to have enough time to change, take a shower, and shave before the date, but he knew that he should check the results of some evidence he had dropped off earlier in the week.

Even though he was hurrying, he noticed that he had an extra bounce in his step. Although he had just met Rachael he felt a real connection with her that he hadn't felt with anyone in a long time.

Even as that though passed through his mind, he realized that that he wasn't being entirely truthful with himself. He felt the same sort of connection with Calleigh, but it always seemed as though all she wanted from him was friendship or that she might want more but wasn't sure.

A few months ago, it had seemed as though Calleigh was interested in possibly being more than "just friends" and Eric had never been happier. They began flirting at crime scenes-a flirtatious smile here and there; lingering touches occasionally; and more friendly and suggestive banter than usual. Yet for some reason, as Eric began to grow more hopeful that the relationship could become romantic, Calleigh seemed to grow more doubtful.

He knew at the time that there was a risk dating each other, but he believed that the potential rewards outweighed the risk. Calleigh, on the other hand, seemed to be afraid to take the risk of ruining the friendship. After all, going from friends to more could be very complicated.

He knew the questions that must have been running through her mind. What if the relationship didn't work out? Would they still be able to be friends if they broke up? Would they lose other relationships in the lab if things didn't work out because people would feel forced to pick sides? Plus many other questions he could only begin to fathom.

While these were all valid questions that they should ask themselves, Eric realized it wasn't the only thing to focus on. He was also envisioning the relationship going well. He pictured himself being able to curl up with Calleigh on the couch after a long day, being able to confide in everything with each other, having fun together miniature golfing or doing some other activity, and many other things. Further down the road, he could even imagine them getting married and having kids.

Unfortunately, Calleigh seemed unable to see some of the things that he was able to. He knew that she had been hurt in previous relationships and didn't want to take the risk of not only getting hurt again, but also losing her best friend. So, just as quickly as things started to heat up, they cooled down again.

Eric was hurt and angry at first, but tried to hold on to some hope that Calleigh would be able to see what they could have and be willing to take a risk. And he held onto that hope until Jake came back into the picture.

At first he thought that since Calleigh had been hurt by Jake deeply before, she wouldn't go back to him. But then the more that Jake pursued her, the more that she seemed to fall victim to his charms. Eric slowly began to lose hope, but didn't give up completely until he saw her kiss Jake. He didn't think it was possible to feel pain like that without dying until that day; he felt like someone had ripped his heart out of his chest and shredded it to pieces.

After that he realized he and Calleigh weren't ever going to be more than friends and each day that he had to see her was more painful than the last. He slowly started to withdraw from Calleigh, but one morning he woke up and decided that if he had to live with the pain of knowing that they would never be together in order to keep their friendship, he would do it. Calleigh was his best friend and no matter what he didn't want to lose her for good.

So he kept going through the motions of normalcy until things started to become actually normal. He still would do anything to be with Calleigh, but he realized that if anything was going to change, it would have to be her decision. For now she seemed to be happy with Jake, although he thought that Jake didn't appreciate Calleigh enough or see how truly special she was. If Eric ever got the chance to be with Calleigh, he would go to the ends of the earth for her.

Nonetheless, as painful as it was, he was moving on with his life and it finally seemed like things were looking up. He felt lucky that he had met a girl like Rachael and was excited to see where the relationship would go. After all, this would be his first real relationship since he was shot in the head.

The shooting had been a real wake up call for him. Before that he had always played the field, always looking for a one-night stand or someone to just hook up with occasionally. At the time he had been fairly happy, but after he was shot he realized that there was more to life and that he wanted something more fulfilling. He wanted to settle down, find someone to share his life with, and have a family.

Despite his strong desire for those things, it wasn't surprising that he hadn't come any closer to obtaining those things since the shooting. He was so busy pining after Calleigh, and so sure that she was the woman he wanted those things with, that he hadn't really bothered with any other relationships. He'd gone on a few dates sure, but never really felt any connection to the women he went out with and since he wasn't interested in a one-night stand anymore, he'd taken them home and politely explained that he didn't think it would work out between them.

But now he thought he had found a woman who might end up being what he was looking for. As he walked through the door to the trace lab, he realized it was too early to tell but he thought that he might fall in love with Rachael. From what he'd seen of her so far she was smart, funny, beautiful, and not afraid to go after what she wanted. He'd been surprised when she'd kissed him earlier, but he couldn't deny that he'd felt something strong when she did-something more than just simple lust.

As he looked up, he saw Ryan standing over one of the tables in the room looking at something under a microscope. As he looked around though he didn't see Boa Vista anywhere, and began to hope that she hadn't left for the day already. As if finally sensing that there was another person in the room, Ryan looked up and straightened up upon seeing Eric.

"Hey man," Ryan said and then noticing that Eric was smiling added, "I haven't seen you smiling like that in awhile. You got a hot date or something tonight?"

"Yeah, actually I do."

Ryan's grin dropped for a moment and it was obvious that he hadn't expected that answer. Like everyone else in the lab, he'd noticed the way that Delko always looked at Calleigh and knew that he'd been hung up on her for sometime now. Surprised that Delko was actually going out on a date with another girl and that he looked somewhat love-struck, all he could come up with to say was, "Wow, how'd that happen?"

Eric laughed at Ryan's response. He knew Ryan wasn't trying to be rude, but instead recognized the fact that he probably hadn't done a good job trying to hide his feelings for Calleigh and that Ryan was responding to that fact. Still he didn't really want to delve into a deep conversation. That might lead to questions he didn't particularly want to address or acknowledge tonight, so he tried to shrug it off as no big deal.

"Well you know, I am a relatively good looking guy. It was bound to happen sooner or later that I would meet someone who was interested in me."

Ryan picked up on Delko's reluctance to talk more seriously about the issue and just went along with the banter.

"Ah, but looks only get you so far my friend. What's gonna happen once she sees what's underneath the surface?"

They both laughed for a minute and then Ryan turned more serious.

"Actually, I'm glad I ran into you. Boa Vista had to leave early today to deal with something with her family and asked me to tell you that she finished testing the hair you brought her. She said that she added the report to the case file."

Eric muttered thanks as he walked over to the computer in the lab and pulled up the police report. As he read through her findings he felt a stab of disappointment, he'd really been hoping it would crack the case.

As he stood up and turned around Ryan noticed the disappointment in his demeanor and asked what was wrong.

"Not what you were hoping for?"

"No, this 19 year old girl was raped earlier this week and when we did a sexual assault kit, we found a pubic hair that wasn't hers. I was hoping that we would get a match in CODIS, but there was no match for the DNA."

"Oh man, that sucks." Ryan said.

"Yeah it does. He beat her up pretty badly too; she was in the hospital for three days before she even woke up. I just wish that we could get this scumbag off the streets before he does this to another girl."

Ryan just nodding, knowing that the reality of their job was that they couldn't always catch the bad guy.

After a beat, seeing that Delko had accepted there was nothing more that he could do tonight and was going to leave, he decided to pry more into the date.

"So does this girl that you're going out with have a name?"

Delko smiled as replied, "Yeah, it's Rachael."

"Where'd you meet her?"

"Her dad was robbed earlier this week and she was with him when I showed up to process the scene."

Eric paused for a second and then continued, "Anyway she's really sweet and charming. We went out yesterday for lunch and it went great."

Ryan was a little surprised that Delko had elaborated on what he'd said earlier and provided more details than he'd been asked for, and he had to admit it seemed like Delko really liked this girl.

"Hey man, well I'm happy for you."

Eric looked at his watch and realized he needed to get going if he was going to get cleaned up and be on time to pick up Rachael.

"Thanks. Anyway, I'm gonna head out now, but I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow. Good luck tonight."

Eric headed out of the room and put up his lab coat. As he was walking towards the elevator he heard the receptionist say goodbye and he wished her a good weekend. He had to come in tomorrow, one of the downsides of the job was that CSI shifts didn't always run the course of a normal workweek, but he still found himself smiling. He had tonight to look forward to and that was enough to put him in a good mood.

**  
A/N: Ok, so I hope that you guys thought the chapter was ok (hopefully you liked it). Anyway, again I'm so sorry that it took me so long to update-I'll try to get another chapter posted within the next week (two weeks max). I've got a lot of ideas for the next few chapters and I think you'll really like them (a lot of angst, jealousy, and a few surprises). And please review this chapter, it'll help motivate me to get the next one done faster!**

**Also I know in my last chapter, I asked for a beta and a lot of you responded (thank you for those of you who wrote me before). Unfortunately I had an email client and when my computer crashed I lost all the emails from those of you who were interested. Anyway I'm still looking for a, so if anyone's still interested in being my beta for this story ****send me a PM ****(specifically I'm looking for someone who will not only correct grammar and spelling mistakes and make the story more readable, but also someone who will tell me when the characters seem out of character or the story seems off in someway, and someone who would be willing to let me bounce ideas off them and see what they think about where I want to take the story next. The most important thing I'm looking for though is someone who's willing to be honest and give me constructive criticism)!  
**


	4. Double Date Disaster

**_Ok, so you guys must officially hate me (it's been forever since I've updated). I'm really sorry. Hopefully this will make up for it; I think you guys will really like it. Thanks for all your reviews on the last chapter!_**

**Chapter 4**

Eric walked into the Grove Isle Hotel and Spa main lobby with his arm comfortably wrapped around Rachel's waist. He felt his stress slipping away as they walked towards the restaurant. It was nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a change and to know that he wouldn't have to worry about work for a couple days.

Actually, he'd always enjoyed the work in the lab, but this last week he had felt like he was trapped in a pressure cooker. Not because of the work, but rather because of how uncomfortable things had been with Calleigh.

She had been giving him dirty looks all of the last week when she thought that he wasn't looking and their interactions had been tense to say the least. Every time, this week, when they had been forced to collaborate on a case together, he always sensed an undercurrent of anger and irritation in her tone of voice and body posture. He'd actually confronted her about it, but she'd denied that there was anything wrong between the two of them.

Each time that he considered what might be causing the problem, he always came back to the same conclusion-that his dating Rachel bothered her. But that conclusion didn't make any sense to him either because he'd tried to pursue a romantic relationship with Calleigh in the past, but she'd shot him down repeatedly. He just couldn't understand why, when she had clearly stated that she only wanted to be friends, she would be angry with him for dating someone else.

Although he'd only been confused in the beginning, he had slowly felt his irritation with Calleigh grow over the last few days. He had a hard time believing that she was jealous, but unable to draw any other conclusion, he'd begun grow angry.

She said that she'd only wanted to be friends, but didn't want to see him date anyone either apparently. She had Jake, but it seemed like she didn't want him to have anyone himself. The double standard had really bothered Eric and as the week went by he saw their interactions growing more and more heated. He'd begun to snap at Calleigh for little things that would have never bothered him in the past and she'd begun to do the same as well.

Rachel seemed to notice him glowering and vaguely heard her ask him something, but it didn't register with him immediately

"What?" he asked.

"Well, I was just wondering what was wrong. You had a look on your face like you had a lemon in your mouth or something. Something bothering you about a case?"

"No, I was just thinking about a co-worker. Things have just been a little weird between us this week and I was remembering how things were this week."

He saw disappointment flicker across her face, but she quickly hid it. Eric knew that she suspected how he felt about Calleigh, but they'd avoided the topic so far. He assumed that she'd realized that he'd been talking about Calleigh, although he had painstakingly avoided using her name, but she flashed him a smile that made him doubt whether or not he'd actually seen the disappointment in the first place.

"Well, you're the most perfect guy that I've met so far," she started, and then giving him a wink and nudge on the shoulder, she added, "so you can't possibly be at fault for whatever's causing the weirdness between you two."

"Obviously" Eric joked, winking back at her.

Eric felt his tension start to slip away and realized he had been getting angry just even thinking about the situation with Calleigh and decided to put it out of his head for the weekend. He was here at the hotel for the weekend with a beautiful, sweet, and caring woman and he wasn't going to let anything spoil it.

Instead he started to think about what would happen later on in the night. He still hadn't slept with Rachel because both of them had decided to take it slow in the beginning and see where things led before taking that step. Truthfully Eric hadn't slept with anybody in a couple of months, which he admitted had probably been a good thing for him. Having been a bit of a playboy in the past, being celibate for a long period of time made him realize that having sex was something that was much more fulfilling when you were doing it with someone who you cared about rather than someone you had only known for one night and hadn't really talked to.

And he had come to really care about Rachel. Every time that he was with her, his mood improved, his heart beat faster, and he felt more alive. He had come to learn that she was a person who truly cared about others, someone who could make others laugh with ease or put a smile on their face, and someone who was extremely intelligent. Although he couldn't say that he was in love with her yet, he could say that he knew that he was falling for her hard.

He knew that tonight would be the night when they slept together for the first time. The hotel room that they were staying in only had one bed and though they hadn't discussed it, Eric somehow knew that Rachel felt the same way about him that he did about her and felt they were ready to take the next step.

As they approached the restaurants hostess booth, Eric grabbed Rachel's hand and squeezed it lightly. She seemed to sense what he was thinking about and gave him a somewhat bashful smile in return.

The hostess, seeming to ignore the way that they were looking at each other, asked, "Do you have a reservation?"

"Yes, it should be under the name Eric Delko."

She flipped through a couple pages in the reservation book and after a second said, "Yes. I have you right here. Unfortunately, we had a couple people come in for their reservations a little late tonight and there won't be another table for another ten or fifteen minutes. On behalf of our restaurant, I apologize for the delay and would like to offer you complementary drinks if you would like to wait in the bar."

Eric looked at Rachel and after she gave a shrug he told the hostess that that would be fine. The wait didn't particularly bother either of them, since they had heard that it was one of the best restaurants around Miami, especially if they were going to get free drinks.

After sitting down on two of the stools, Eric ordered a beer for himself and a screwdriver for Rachel. They spent the next few minutes discussing their plans for the weekend, until Eric saw someone walk in that made him feel like he had just had the wind knocked out of him.

In an elegant black evening dress, looking so beautiful she would have taken away Eric's breath if it had not initially been taken away by surprise, Calleigh walked through the entrance to the bar with Jake following not too far behind. Eric tried to avoid making contact with either Calleigh or Jake and wished he could be invisible right then. Unfortunately, Jake spotted them and after waving, began dragging Calleigh over towards their direction. She looked like he felt-like she wanted to run away.

"Hey Delko. How are you doing?"

Eric took a deep breath and decided to just be polite and not cause a scene.

"I'm good. We're just staying at the hotel this weekend and Ryan told me this restaurant's one of the best in Miami and that we should check it out while we're staying here. What about you guys? What brings you here?"

Jake appeared to have ignored most of what Eric had said, as he was trying to signal the bartender, but seemed to have at least heard the last question.

"You know I was in the lab the other day trying to find someone who could give me the results on some evidence I'd submitted earlier and I found Ryan. The evidence was poisoned food and somehow or another we wound up talking about good restaurants. Ryan recommended this place and since Calleigh and I haven't really been out on a date in awhile, thought we'd check it out."

Eric made a mental note to smack Ryan on the back of his head as hard as he could next time he saw him. He'd had an uncomfortable week with Calleigh already and the last thing that he wanted to do was sit here and talk to her boyfriend like nothing was wrong.

Although he was frustrated by the situation, he picked up on the fact that Calleigh looked unhappy too. She was keeping quiet and hadn't said a word yet, but he knew her well enough to pick up on what she was thinking without her saying anything. She was probably as frustrated by the situation as he was, if not more. He knew, from occasionally eavesdropping on Calleigh and Natalia's conversations, that Jake rarely took Calleigh out on a real date. His idea of a date seemed to be getting pizza and six-pack of beer and watching football. As long as Calleigh was sitting on the same couch as him, it was a date in his book. Now not only did she have to sit here, feeling uncomfortable because Eric was here too, but she was also probably feeling like the one real date she'd had in awhile was ruined.

Jake seemed oblivious to her mood, as he almost always was, and Eric realized that Jake had been asking him who the girl he was with was.

Before he could respond, Rachel answered the question herself.

"I'm Eric's girlfriend, Rachel."

Eric noticed Calleigh flinch a little bit as Rachel said "girlfriend" and his stomach knotted up more than it had already been. He told himself to stop staring at Calleigh and concentrate on the conversation, but that didn't help the situation because as soon as he looked at Jake, he noticed he was staring at Rachel's chest.

Eric felt his anger swell to almost uncontrollable levels. First he was angry that Jake was staring at his girlfriend like that, but more importantly he was furious that anyone lucky enough to have Calleigh would be so uncaring about her feelings and would so blatantly leer at another girl in front of her.

Right as Eric started to say something, he felt a hand on his leg. Somewhat surprised, he looked up to see that it was Calleigh's hand. She gave him a compassionate look and said, "It's alright."

That was all it took for Eric to find the willpower to calm down. If anything, he was even angrier because the fact that Calleigh was trying to keep him calm probably indicated that Jake did stuff like this all the time. But Calleigh's eyes were silently pleading with him not to start anything and he didn't want to cause her more embarrassment by causing a scene.

So instead he fumed for the next few minutes and tried to join the conversation and act like nothing was wrong. Jake didn't seem to notice how uncomfortable everyone was and when the waitress came into the bar and called out that Eric's table was ready, Jake showed just how oblivious he was.

"Hey, I got an idea. Why don't we ask the restaurant to put together two tables and have dinner together?"

Calleigh saw the spark of anger reignited in Eric's eyes and tried to stop the situation from boiling over. "Jake, honey, I don't think that's a…"

Jake cut her off, " Oh come on. We haven't been on a double date in awhile and it'll be fun."

Instead of listening to any of the people around him, Jake stood up and asked the waitress to put their tables together. She gave him a smile and he came back announcing to the bar announcing that it was done and their table would be ready in a couple of minutes.

Rachel seemed to sense how angry Eric was and put her hand on his arm. She leaned over and whispered, "Look I know this isn't ideal, and you're upset, but let's just try to get through it and look forward to our time alone later tonight."

She accompanied this statement with a flirtatious smile and that was enough to lower Eric's anger to a level he could manage. Once they got their table, Eric just tried to ignore Jake as much as he could and managed to get through dinner without losing his cool.

But then dessert came around and while they were waiting for the waitress to return, Jake offered to go find someone to refill their drinks. He didn't get too far though when he ran into someone who he knew. Apparently thinking that he was far enough away to not be heard he started talking with the man.

Eric didn't listen to most of what he was saying, but he heard something that made his blood boil.

"Yeah I'm with my girlfriend. She's the blond over there." Jake said, pointing.

"She's hot," the other man said.

"Yeah, she is, but what I wouldn't give to spend one night with the brunet. Talk about hot."

Eric felt his blood pressure rise drastically and felt like his head was going to explode. He saw the disgust on Rachel's face and how hurt Calleigh was. He knew he had to leave the room before he did something that he really regretted.

As he stood up both Rachel and Calleigh started speaking, "Eric…"

Before they could say anything else he said, "I'm just going to the bathroom. I'll be back in a few minutes."

He glared at Jake as he left the room. Once he got in the bathroom he locked the door and took a couple deep breaths. Starting to feel calmer, he turned on the faucet and splashed some cold water on his face.

Although nowhere near calm, he decided it was time to go back to the table. As angry as he was, he didn't want to leave Rachel or Calleigh at the table alone with Jake for much longer. He dried his hand and left the bathroom.

As he was approaching the bar, he saw Jake coming towards him. With nowhere else to go, Eric stopped and stood his ground.

Jake was the first to speak, "What's with you man? You've been acting like a jerk all night. I saw that glare you gave me on your way out of the room. You think you're so much better than me?"

Eric couldn't hold it together anymore. "Yeah. As a matter of fact I do think I'm better than you are. You're such an asshole. You leer at my girlfriend all night and then you say you'd like to sleep with her to one of your buddies within earshot of both her and Calleigh?"

It felt good to release some of his pent up anger and as he continued talking, his voice escalated from a normal level to yelling.

"If I was lucky enough to have a girl like Calleigh, I would treat her like a princess, not a pile of crap I stepped in."

Realizing that everybody was staring now, Eric lowered his voice and said, "You're pathetic, man."

He then tried to step around Jake, but Jake put his hand on Eric's chest and stopped him. Eric registered anger, embarrassment, and hate on Jake's face one second before he felt Jake's right fist connect with his jaw.

Next thing he knew they were brawling. Eric felt his fist connect with connect with something, but everything was moving so fast he wasn't sure where he had hit Jake. He felt Jake get in a solid punch to his ribs and heard something crack. Trying to avoid getting hit again, Eric moved in towards him and grabbed him by the shirt. He picked him up and slammed him into the bar, but miscalculated its height.

Eric and Jake flipped over the bar and Eric heard glass shattering. Next thing that he knew he felt several sharp shards of glass puncturing his legs, arms, and face. He heard several people yelling for them to break it up, but didn't pay much attention as he landed a couple more punches and got hit himself several times.

Next thing he knew he felt himself being pulled off of Jake and saw someone grab Jake and pull him out of the room. Breathing raggedly now, Eric looked up and although his vision was clouded by blood dripping into his eye, he saw Rachel rushing towards him and a disappointed and worried Callie in the back of the bar.

_**So what'd you guys think? Hopefully I'll be able to get up another chapter soon, but with school being so crazy right now I can't promise when. A special thanks to Adorelo-I wouldn't have come up with the idea for this chapter without your suggestion, in your review a couple chapters ago, that Jake hit on Rachel. Anyway I'm not really sure how much longer I want this story to go on (I have lots of ideas), but not sure if I want to do them all. Let me know what you think and please review.**_


	5. Calleigh's Point of View

_**A/N: Wow! Thanks everybody for your reviews (it was the most I've gotten yet for a single chapter) and to those who added this to their favorite story or story alert list! I'm one of those authors who's my own worst critic and thinks that everything I write is terrible, so you're reviews really make me feel like the effort was worth it (and that maybe I'm not as bad of a writer as I give myself credit for). And a special thanks to my new beta truelovechick77, who really helped me make this chapter a lot better! Hope you enjoy the new chapter and please review and let me know what you thought at the end!**_

**Chapter 5**

Calleigh had actually been looking forward to tonight, but as always things in her life never went according to plan. When Jake had told her that he had made reservations at the Grove Isle Hotel Restaurant, she had been thrilled. They normally just sat around her house or his apartment and she was looking forward to spending some quality time with him for once.

But of course the evening didn't start off like anything she'd imagined. They'd agreed to meet at 7, and when Jake showed up at her house, it was apparent that he had stopped at a bar after work. Although not as drunk as he sometimes was, he was still intoxicated enough that she knew the evening would be nothing like she had envisioned. As usual, Jake had proven to her yet again that he cared more about himself than her.

* * *

_She'd heard a knock at the door and excitedly hurried to answer it. She'd been looking forward to this date all day and couldn't wait for it to begin. Although she had always been a tomboy, she still had a romantic side to her that she usually hid from the world. That side of her was the side that envisioned a man opening car doors for her, buying her flowers, looking at her as if there was no one else in the world, and much more. And she was prepared to let down her guard tonight and let that side take over for the night._

_As soon as she opened the door though, she realized that her hopes had been dashed. Jake was leaning his arm against the doorframe and had his head rested on it. When he looked up and smiled, she saw his bloodshot eyes and heard a slight slur when he began to talk._

"_Hey, babe. You ready?"_

_Calleigh briefly considered slamming the door in his face, but ultimately decided that would be a bad choice. Jake would only get upset and spend half the night pounding on her door either angry or trying to apologize. Eventually, she'd either have to open it up and face him or the neighbors would call the cops to complain. _

_Knowing that gossip spread like wildfire at the Police Department, that was the last thing that she wanted to have happen. She had enough stress at work, as it was, trying to actually do her job, let alone having to worry about fielding questions from her coworkers about personal matters. _

_Having made the decision to make the best of the evening, she tried to think positively. Maybe he would sober up enough by the time that they got to the restaurant to make the evening enjoyable; maybe he wouldn't cause a scene like he sometimes did when he'd been drinking; maybe the alcohol in his system would inadvertently cause him to take down the walls he had built around himself, giving her a rare opportunity to learn more about him._

_But as they walked to the car, she knew none of those things would happen as Jake threw her his keys and said, "Can you drive tonight Cal? I had a little bit to drink and don't want to ruin our evening by getting pulled over and taken to the slammer."_

_As he spoke, Calleigh felt her anger growing exponentially. Even before he had finished the sentence, she was already lashing back in her mind silently._

_"Yeah, that's funny. Silly of me to think that you already ruined it by showing up drunk on my doorstep."_

_As they got in the car, she debated whether or not to vocalize the thought and call off the date, but ultimately decided against it. She had already made up her mind earlier to try to make the best of the evening and her previously built up resolve was just enough that she was able to cope with her frustration without starting a fight. However, that resolve was wearing down significantly with each passing moment._

_As they drove off, Calleigh wondered why she bothered to stay with Jake, but knew that she had already answered that question for herself a long time ago._

* * *

As Calleigh recalled the evening, she knew that the reason why she stayed with Jake was because she had come to believe that she didn't deserve someone better-a belief that had begun to develop in childhood and had continued to be more deeply entrenched in all of her adult relationships. She knew that wasn't a rational opinion, but after John Hagan had committed suicide in her lab, it was one that she couldn't shake. Although she knew that his death wasn't really her fault, she still felt like she should've done something to prevent it.

Then there was also Peter Elliot, the Secret Service agent who had gotten engaged and still pursued her. It seemed like she always attracted the wrong kind of guy and each time that she got in a bad relationship, it only reinforced her belief that she didn't deserve a good guy. She had a bad habit of laying the blame of why her relationships failed on herself, rather than admitting the other person was at fault too.

She supposed that this habit had begun when she was only a child. She'd grown up around her dad, who was always drunk and never there for her when she needed him most. Like most young children, she hadn't been able to understand his behavior and unable to draw any other conclusion, she had begun to believe that somehow she was at fault. She'd tried harder and harder to please him, thinking that it would get him to stop drinking, but each new attempt always failed. As she'd grown older she'd come to realize that blaming herself was irrational; however, although she was able to recognize mentally it wasn't her fault, believing it was a different story.

Although normally able to maintain a sunny disposition towards life, she found that she couldn't maintain that same attitude towards her relationships. She seemed to never be able to be in a successful relationship and found that over time she had gradually lowered her standards for what defined a good relationship.

When Jake came back into the picture, she had thought that her relationship with him might finally let her believe that she deserved a good guy. He had once been one of the best men that she knew, next to Eric, but she found out shortly after resuming their relationship that time had changed him drastically and not for the better.

But still she stayed with him because he fit her new lowered standards of what defined a good relationship. He loved her and she figured that she was lucky someone did. If she settled, maybe she wouldn't spend the rest of her life alone. Besides, she rationalized further, he occasionally surprised her and did nice things such as buying flowers, calling to see how she was doing when he knew that she was having a rough day, and he tried to make their time together fun.

Although she was generally satisfied with her relationship with Jake, she had found that she had begun to have more and more doubts about being with him. And she knew this was due to Eric.

Eric was her best friend-someone who had been there for her through the good and bad times-and at times when she was able to admit her true feelings to herself, she knew that she was in love with him. It hadn't always been that way though; after he'd gotten shot he'd grown up a lot and she'd begun to see him as the perfect guy for someone to settle down with and have a family. When he'd begun to show interest in her-with flirty smiles and comments; slight touches on her arms, back, or hands that hadn't been there before-she'd been oblivious to it at first. Later, when she finally noticed his interest, she'd begun to reciprocate.

But then the doubts concerning herself and her relationships began to creep in again and she'd chosen Jake instead of Eric. She thought that Jake and she could be happy and that Eric deserved someone better. He was too good of a guy to be in a relationship with someone who wasn't ready to tear down all of her defensive walls, someone who wasn't in a place where she could share everything about herself.

By choosing Jake though, all she'd done was hurt Eric. And now every time she was unhappy with Jake, which was becoming an increasingly frequent occurrence, she wondered what it would have been like had she chosen Eric. But she never let those thoughts get too far because when she had rejected Eric they had grown apart for awhile and that had been one of the worst times of her life. She had missed seeing his smile, hearing his laugh, and being able to talk to him about anything.

They eventually patched things up, but now she feared that if they ever did get together and things didn't work out, they could never be friends again. And she couldn't imagine living a life without Eric in it. It was too great of a risk; too great of chance that she might have to live with deep feelings of regret, loss, and loneliness.

So she'd continued to stay with Jake and had managed to convince herself that she didn't have feelings for Eric. But then he'd met Rachel and it'd been increasing difficult to lie to herself about the feelings she had for him. She tried her best to hide her jealousy, but the feelings were so strong that she hadn't been able to contain all of them, all the time. The last week, in particular, had been especially hard because there were times when her feelings had trickled out. Instead of coming out as words, these repressed feelings had manifested themselves in the forms of fights with Eric.

As she fought with him, she felt his frustration growing and he began to lash back at her in small ways. Things were getting worse each day and Calleigh knew that she needed to either confront her feelings or let them go. She'd been hoping to have some time this weekend, when Eric wasn't at work, to figure out what to do, but luck hadn't been with her.

When she walked into the bar of the restaurant, she'd been shocked to see Rachel and Eric there on a date. Her evening went from bad to horrible right then and she didn't know what to say. She stayed quiet during dinner because she didn't want to inadvertently reveal her feelings for Eric in front of Jake or Rachel. And she hadn't bothered to pretend to be happy because she knew Jake was still a little drunk and wouldn't notice either way, Eric would see through the façade, and she didn't really care if Rachel saw she was unhappy.

The dinner was almost unbearable. She was furious at Jake for leering at Rachel and paying her no attention. She also knew how angry Eric was and saw that it hadn't escaped Rachel's attention either. She felt like the room was closing in on her and she was suffocating. She just kept reminding herself that she just had to get through the night and could deal with everything later.

And, as if the fates deemed that the situation wasn't bad enough, Jake had to go and say to a friend that he wouldn't mind sleeping with Rachel. She'd never seen Eric so angry in all the time that she'd known him and when he got up, she was sure it was to fight with Jake. She'd been really relieved when he said he was just going to the bathroom and thought the worst had passed, but then she and Rachel heard Eric yelling from the bar.

The fact that there had been a fight hadn't surprised her; the words that had started the fight were what had. It was clear that the fight had erupted over Jake's treatment of Calleigh, not over the fact that Jake had been leering at Rachel all night. With each word that Eric uttered, it was clear to anyone listening that he was in love with Calleigh.

Although Calleigh had rushed to stop the fight, and hardly noticed anything around her except any obstacles that would prevent her from getting to the bar the fastest, it registered with her that Rachel was all too aware of what the cause of the fight was and was hurt as a result of it. Calleigh couldn't help but feel a little bad for her. After all, she hadn't asked to fall for a guy whose heart already belonged to someone else.

As they rounded the corner to the bar, they had seen that the fight had just been broken up by two of the bartenders and that both Eric and Jake were bloody and bruised. Jake was hauled out of the room quickly after they arrived, so she didn't get as good of a look at him as she did at Eric.

There were small shards of glass sticking out of his arms and legs. His face was also cut up pretty badly, with a large gash above his right eyebrow. He was breathing hard and crouched over in pain, most likely due to broken ribs. His clothes were drenched in sweet and blood and many of his cuts were still open and had a trail of blood flowing down to the ground.

She was so shocked and surprised by the fight, and how badly Eric looked, that she was at a loss of what to do. On one hand, she wanted to go and see if he was all right, but on the other hand she realized that Jake, her boyfriend, was currently in the other room and was probably hurt worse than Eric was. After all he had been drunker and thus probably less able to defend himself.

Yet, despite this acknowledgment to herself, she couldn't look away from Eric and he seemed unable look away from her. She expected to see anger in his eyes, but as she stared into them from a distance, all she could see was worry, longing, and compassion. She supposed that she shouldn't be surprised after what she had heard Eric yelling all the way from the dining room. Eric's statement, "If I was lucky enough to have a girl like Calleigh, I would treat her like a princess, not a pile of crap I stepped in," just kept replaying in her head over and over again.

Looking into his eyes, she felt almost as if she could read his thoughts. He was wondering why she chose to stay with Jake when he treated her the way he did. She could see that he wanted better for her, even if it wasn't necessarily him. And she could see how much he loved her-enough that he would die for her if necessary.

Their intense connection was broken when Rachel reached Eric and tried to help him keep standing. She tried to hold his arm to steady him and she saw him grimace in pain as he broke their stare. Calleigh saw Rachel look up at her and suddenly felt jolted back into reality. When she had been staring into Eric's eyes, it was as if time had stopped, but she realized now it hadn't and that she had to go find Jake and try to help sort out this mess. With one more glance towards Eric, she left the room to go find where Jake had been taken.

_**A/N: Hopefully you liked the new chapter. I was originally going to put in a scene in the ER, but explaining Calleigh's mindset and showing the evening through her eyes ended up being a lot longer than I anticipated. So the next chapter will be in the ER and will feature a fight between Eric and Rachel, a fight between Jake and Calleigh, and a discussion between Eric and Calleigh (lots of drama), so stay tuned! And please review the chapter, so I know what you guys thought. Thanks!**_


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